The Federal Government’s borrowing allocations rose by 278.03 percent or N4.03trillion between 2015 and 2021, Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha has said.
She said the new borrowing allocation for 2015 was N1.46tn, which was 90.17 per cent of the N1.62tn budget deficit.
For 2021, according to a document the DG made the presentation from, the allocation for new borrowing was N5.49tn, which was 85.11 per cent of the N6.45tn budget deficit.
The document read in part, “2015 comprises 2015 Appropriation Act and supplementary budget of N575bn for the same year. 2021 comprises 2021 Appropriation Act and supplementary budget of N802bn for the same year”.
The document further identified issues around the public debt level, which include fast-growing debts, high Debt Service to Revenue Ratio, and concerns around the use of proceeds from the debts.
Oniha said the increase in public debt levels were due to the country’s huge infrastructure deficit, recession, consecutive budget deficits, and low revenue base.
The World Bank has said Nigeria’s debt, which may be considered sustainable for now, is vulnerable and costly.
